Broadband use in UK surpasses US levels

THE proportion of British households with broadband internet access has leapfrogged American levels for the first time, marking a milestone in the take-up of the high-speed service here.

Research from Point Topic, the broadband research firm, revealed yesterday that in the second quarter of this year broadband penetration in Britain overtook that of the US. There were 14 broadband connections per 100 Britons, compared with 13 in the US.

Although the gap is narrow, the fact that Britain has overtaken the US, traditionally the home of internet and technology developments, was welcomed as highly symbolic by industry experts.

A spokesman for Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, said: “Broadband in the UK is proving to be one of the most significant and rapidly growing technologies of recent…